


Myghal of Macedon: The True Origins of the "Second Coming of Travant"

by noahfronsenburg



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo | Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Genre: Academia, Alternate History, Footnotes, Future Fic, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-26 09:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahfronsenburg/pseuds/noahfronsenburg
Summary: Despite Myghal the Conqueror dying over 1700 years ago, there is still no clear consensus providing an answer to the question that much of Jugdral has been asking since his arrival: who was Myghal the Conqueror, and where did he come from? While there have been numerous theories put forth by everyone from the proverbial man on the street to the finest academic minds in generations, most of them have relied on the foundational belief that none but the Twelve Crusaders (or their descendants) can influence the history of Jugdral, and, while this has merit, it does not adequately answer the foundational question of Myghal's identity. Thanks in part to the research of Miriel of Ylisse revealing letters thought lost in the Plegian purges, as well as direct information from a surviving veteran of the Wars of Shadows and Heroes, this paper definitively identifies Myghal the Conqueror of Jugdral as almost certainly being King Michalis of Macedon.





	Myghal of Macedon: The True Origins of the "Second Coming of Travant"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NovaCorium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaCorium/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Documents of Note in the Royal Archives: The Disappearance of Michalis of Macedon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17012793) by [noahfronsenburg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahfronsenburg/pseuds/noahfronsenburg). 



> happy nagamas, NovaCorium! sorry this is posted one day late—i wanted to be able to link it to the yuletide where the letters are hehehehe. the idea for this came from your 4th and 5th prompts, for the far-future historical paper and the bit about minerva being the one to oust michalis and i've been sitting on this idea for like a month and a half kjsdhfkjshdf
> 
> i hope you enjoy it! and please check out the letters, because it's just basically more of the same.
> 
> i'd like to call this "someone let me do what i do professionally for fun"

MYGHAL OF MACEDON:

THE TRUE ORIGINS OF THE “SECOND COMING OF TRAVANT”

Leif IX of Silessa

Grann Year 3800

 

The history of the continent of Ylisse (ancient Archanea) has always been defined by the interaction between royalty and peasantry. Unlike Jugdral’s own history—which has been shaped over and over again by the intervention of deities, demigods, and nobility with very little support from those not descended from the Twelve Crusaders—the wars of Ylisse have almost always been won, not by a single hero at the head of a vanguard, but by a conglomerate from across all walks of life. Just as the recent defeat of the Fell Dragon Grima by the Shepherds of Ylisse (approximately 2:9 of nobility to peasantry) the ancient Wars of Shadows and Heroes, as well as the War of Liberation, were all fought by those from across all walks of life. This remarkably equitable arrangement of combatants is well represented in Elice of Altea’s account recorded in her _History of the Wars_ , which gives a great deal of page time to the many fighters without whose support the Hero-King could not possibly have succeeded.

However, despite her inclusion of fighters as disparate as former sex-workers turned mercenaries (Phina, pg.268-272) and illegitimate princesses (Lena of Macedon, pg. 298-304), in her incredibly detailed histories both before and after the wars, there are two people whose information is surprisingly sparse on the page1. The identity of “Sirius” has been a subject of debate for well over a millennium, and has enough scholarship that to add to it would be of little worth2. The conclusions made by Katrie and Marix as to Sirius being the Naga-resurrected spirit of Camus of Grust remains the authority, and as there has been no further evidence raised as to his identity, it would be pointless to further theorize on this3. Despite no less than thirty-eight different scholarly works devoted to proving Camus’ survival after the War of Shadows, there has been little to no information gathered on the life of King Michalis I of Macedon.

In _History of the Wars,_ Elice gives but one quote on the life of Michalis after the wars. On pg. 205 (after the War of Heroes) Elice says:

 

"Accounts are conflicted about Michalis after the war. Some said he ruled over Macedon once again, while others claimed he departed to conquer another continent."4

 

Given that Michalis I was king of Macedon not once but _three times_ , it is a striking omission to have so little information on his life after the wars. For the past two-thousand years, historians have been trying (and failing) to fill in the missing pieces of Michalis’ disappearance from history, and until two years ago, there was no new information that could believably fill these gaps. However, the publication of Miriel of Ylisse’s seminal _Lost Letters: A Collection_ in 1002 YC revealed for the first time an answer to the apocryphal account given in _History of the Wars_. Michalis did indeed rule Macedon a third time between the years of 609 and 612 AOC, when the Second Succession Crisis ended in his permanent ousting from the kingdom by Minerva I in the trial by combat in which many scholars long believed Michalis lost his life, and then in c.620 AOC, abruptly left Archanea, never to be seen again.

Where did Michalis go? “Another continent” is hardly definitive information, as there could be any number of unknown lands upon our globe, and at least two continents aside from Yisse. Valm (ancient Valentia) can be removed as a potential final destination, as the reign of Alm and Celica I remains one of the most well documented periods of Valmese history, but a contemporaneous account has been strangely unidentified with the latter part of Michalis’ life.

In the winter of Grann Year 1801(621 AOC), a mighty warrior upon a black wyvern arrived at Thracia’s shores from beyond an uncrossable sea. In a period of only a few short months, Myghal the Conqueror led a blistering campaign across Jugdral, ending in his sole rulership as the First Emperor of The Second Grann Empire by the fall of Grann Year 1803 (623 AOC).

Our modern Empire has as many theories and rumors about the identity of Myghal as Archanea does about the final resting place of Camus of Grust. Thracians, who rallied behind him and supported his conquest, have long identified Myghal as the reincarnation of the King Travant, if not another Dain5. For the people of Grannvale, a red-headed man in all black upon a black wyvern was immediately seen as another Loptous, and many believed that he was the ghost of Emperor Julius, if not the reanimated body of Alvis of Velthomer, and most of Grannvale in fact bowed to his arrival in fear6. Without a concerted opposition, the rest of Jugdral fell in capitulation, and Myghal was crowned First Emperor Of His Name on 18 Dainsmonth, Grann Year 1804.

When Myghal died in 1832, exactly 1200 after The Miracle of Darna, this seemed the ultimate proof: the inheritor of the legacies of the Twelve Crusaders (of _which_ has been up to interpretation) had come, conquered Jugdral, and brought an era of peace that has lasted up until the present day. While historians have written more biographies of Myghal than could possibly be recounted within the bounds of this paper, the founding principle behind all of them has pulled from Myghal’s own letters, preserved in the archives at Belhalla, especially Epistle 15047. The full text of the letter is in and of itself nearly enough to prove the theory of Myghal being from beyond the shores of Jugdral. The letter reads:

 

“Ange,

Fain, cease you this begging, I find it unbecoming of our stations. You have asked me now for no less than fifteen years to explain the genesis of my arrival on these shores, and I think it best that this secret to go with me to the grave. Jugdral and all its fractious inhabitants find themselves faced with enough difficulty in deciding upon even the simplest issues of governance, and I should hate to hand to an unprepared land further issues of conscience. I have no small doubt that someday8 the truth shall win out one way or another, as technology fosters growth, renewal, and contact, but between then and now I will keep to myself the precise details.

That said, in fondness for you and in equanimity with our friendship, dear to me these many years since our first meeting, I will give you something of that which brought me hence. I was born the eldest scion of a family meant to rule, and found myself faced with several poor decisions of the sort you would be astounded to know I made given the man I am now, and lost myself my birthright in the process. My sister rules now upon the throne I vacated, and with a hand far sturdier and kinder than mine own—indeed, she demanded it be so, as she bested me in combat not once but twice for the title and the crown. That the second near enough to killed me is only, I believe, fair. I do not wish to admit to some of the many crimes that I performed in the short time I found myself lost to my conscience, as they will but sully your care for me, and I hold that in the highest of esteems. Suffice it to say that it was an act for which no forgiveness could ever be forthcoming, and one which pains me to the present day, thirty years on. My sister was right to take my forgiveness in equal measure with pounds of flesh.

I came here, then, to have something of a fresh start. Indeed, it may surprise you to learn that I had at no point upon my arrival any intention to become ruler of anything. Thracia’s firm and heartfelt belief in me—alongside the kindness I was shown by the men and women who helped me to remake myself into a better man—inspired me to become that which I was acclaimed.

I have never at any point thought I was the second coming of anyone or anything. I am no Leif, a spirit guided by Forseti, nor am I Loptous revived. I am simply a man, no more and no less, full of equal parts regret and hope.

Had you met me perhaps twenty years ago and told me I would one day in my sable years be ruler of an entire continent, as is my old friend and enemy whose death I only recently learned of, I would have laughed in your face. Indeed, if you said as much to my sister—either of them—they would strike you down for blasphemy.

History has a strange way of these things. I often cannot believe as much myself. But here I sit upon this throne, and I will do my best to prove worthy of it.

I remain wistful for your return at midwinter, as these halls have been somewhat less full without your presence, and I long for the firm support of your company, should the above revelations not have driven you from me, however abstract they may be.

As always, I remain your dear friend:

M.”

 

The text has been cited by numerous scholars as proof of almost every theory under the sun. Indeed, Myghal’s own words are, intentionally, unclear, and readers, both then and now, are left chasing the tail-end of hints he embedded into rumors. However, with the text of _Lost Letters: A Collection_ , this letter has changed in its nature entirely.

Some of these changes are easy enough to define in their nature: first of all, the rediscovery of Anonymous Epistle 18 (“The Burned Missive”), c.640 AOC, which has been with near enough accuracy been defined as a letter written by Michalis of Macedon, a positive handwriting sample now exists that can be compared with other letters. Second, the somewhat-apocryphal account given by Elice of Altea has proof within the historical record, confirming Michalis did in fact leave Archanea and Valm, never to return. The text of the letters that Miriel of Ylisse included in the final manuscript give the final piece of confirmation, if the handwriting can be believed as a match for Michalis9: Michalis crossed an uncrossable ocean, went to a distant land, and conquered it, becoming its ruler c.624 AOC.

The following inference is therefore fairly logical: Michalis of Macedon is almost certainly Myghal the Conqueror, and what remains left to prove this hypothesis is but unimpeachable evidence. For this purpose, I undertook to cross the ocean and visit Valm to both look over the original letters that Miriel of Ylisse found, as well as to speak with the one remaining witness to the life of Michalis of Macedon. In Valm, the Voice of Naga is a Manakete10, and was amenable to answering some of the questions I posed to her during my visit11.

The Voice of Naga was still a child during the Wars of Shadows and Heroes, but nevertheless participated in both. Afterward, she nurtured a close friendship with Sister Maria of Macedon (King Michalis’ youngest sister), who remained her companion until Maria’s death. The Voice of Naga therefore was aware of Michalis’ disappearance, and also knew him personally. When shown copies of Epistles 207 (fragmentary), Epistle 1405, and the fragments of The Burned Missive, she was able to confirm their shared author, despite the shift in handwriting after Myghal lost his arm12, as well as donate another letter, entrusted to her by Maria, which has been reproduced in Appendix C.

In addition to confirming the match of the handwriting samples, the Voice of Naga looked at copies of the Lansdowne, the Unfinished portrait, and 1820 Start portraits, as well as a copy of _Myghal as Travant Upon the Battlefield,_ _The Apotheosis of Myghal, Myghal Crossing the Yeid Desert,_ and _The Death of Myghal_ _._ Upon comparing these portraits, The Voice of Naga said: “His hair went so grey, it’s kind of incredible—but I couldn’t not recognize him. Maria always looked most like him, and they have that same brow, looking forbidding no matter what. That’s definitely Michalis13.”

A visit to Plegia Csatle proved to be even more useful, as the previous kingdom of Macedon, several portraits of Queen Minerva I, as well as the original of _The Charge of the Wyverns_ are all available to view14. Especially of interest was _Bust of Minerva I_ , which, in comparison to _Bust of Myghal the Conqueror_ , reveals multiple shared familial traits, including a distinctive nose bridge and brow.

While there is always room for error, the presence of so much evidence in the historical record all points to one final option: that Myghal the Conqueror was in fact none other than Michalis of Macedon, who saw the opportunity to redeem his legacy and, in doing so, ushered in a second Golden Age for Jugdral.

 

* * *

 

_1History of the Wars: The War of Shadows and the War of Heroes_ by Elice of Altea, 615 AOC.

_2River Ghost_ by Kieran of Plegia, _The Divine Gradivus_ by Weiyan of Grust, _Nyna’s Quest_ and associated historical fiction by Rathier of Gra, and _The Masked Avenger: An Authoritative Biography of the Life and Death of Camus of Grust_ by J. Ames of Macedon are among only a handful of such treatises on the subject.

_3Ghosts of the Battlefield: A Definitive Encyclopedia of Spirits and Resurrections During the Age of Heroes_, Katrie and Marix, 906 AOC.

_4History of the W_ars, Elice of Altea, pg. 205.

_5Collected Folklore of Thracia and Silessa_, Leif IX of Silessa, Grann Year 3780.

_6Alvis, Julius, and the Collective Imagination_, Sharia of Velthomer, Grann Year 2134.

7Rather than giving an itemized list of all available biographies of Myghal, as most are apocryphal at best, the ones that bear upon this paper are _Conqueror and Contestor, Myghal: The Definitive Life,_ _History of the Early Second Empire,_ and _The Heirless Emperor: How Dynasty, Inheritance, and Faith Created the Second Grannvale Empire_. While Raphyal and Niloce’s _The Red-Headed Stepchild_ : _Lives of Fjalar_ remains stirring, the lack of solid testimony to the possibility of a second coming of Alvis makes it useless as a book of factual history.

8The first recorded contact between Jugdral and Valm was in Grann Year 3502, nearly 1700 years after Myghal’s death.

9While Myghal did lose his dominant hand in the Battle of Fort Seliph in Grann Year 1810, enough fragments of his handwriting exists from prior in the archives that it can be effectively matched, see Appendix A.

10No Jugdrali version of a Manakete exists, so the closest comparison that can be made is to the members of the Dragon Tribes that gave the Twelve Crusaders their powers. Of the Divine Dragon Clan, their descendants are the Manaketes, who still live and reproduce in Ylisse and, to some extent, in Valm.

11See Appendix B for the full transcription of the exchange, both in the original Modern Ylissean as well as translated to New Jugdrali-Silessan.

12Exchange 17.a, Appendix B.

13Exchange 22.d, Appendix B.

14See Appendix D for reproductions of the above portraits.

**Author's Note:**

> social media @jonphaedrus


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